Author: Rick

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Delay to Digital TV Transition?

The incoming Obama team has written Congress asking for a delay of the planned February 17th turn off of analog over-the-air TV signals. While most people won’t notice this eventual transition, there are some hurdles.

Most People Aren’t Affected

The loss of analog over-the-air signals will not affect most people who use one of 1) cable, 2) Satellite (Dish or DirecTV), 3) digital over-the-air (still using an antenna), or 4) fiber (FIOS TV service). Most people in the D.C. area will not be affected. TVs made in the last couple of years should have digital tuners, known as ATSC tuners.

Expected Problems

In my experience setting up home theaters and TVs in the DC metro area, I have found some problems that will likely come with this transition:

  1. Analog signals travel better. While the term “digital” seems like it should mean “better”, it has a big downside. Analog tuners deal with missing data (the result of a poor signal) much better. Digital signals that do not have enough data quickly turn to jaggies and then a blank screen. This is sometimes referred to as a digital cliff effect. The same concept applies to HD Radio. Digital therefore does not travel as far as analog and it does not work as well through walls. Even in Arlington, Virginia, not far from the TV towers, a good signal usually requires an antenna to be placed in a window, on the roof, or in a high attic. People farther away will have more problems. Residents in rural Virginia might now be too far to get any over-the-air signal.
  2. Old homes in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland can not be easily wired for cable. The house walls might be made of concrete, brick, or stone that is difficult to wire through. This has caused some local residents to opt for analog over-the-air TV instead of cable or FIOS. Other people have decided to only wire their living room, and still use analog over-the-air in other rooms. The old construction can also cause problems running an antenna to a window, roof, or attic.

Possible Delay

The Obama team has requested a delay because the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which is to provide education and $40 vouchers for people to buy digital TV converter boxes, ran out of money on January 4. There is also concern that many people, especially poorer and more rural areas, have not yet heard that they will need a converter and a larger antenna.

Web Resources

To find out what kind of signal you can expect and what kind of antenna you need to get digital programs, see AntennaWeb site and click Choose an antenna. Another useful site is HDTV Hub, which lists many users experiences for their particular locations. You can find out through these sites what kind of over-the-air HDTV experience that you can expect.

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Old School Hacker

Most high profile hacking today is for profit. The Russian mob and other criminal gangs are often involved in taking over computers, stealing credit cards, and threatening websites with denial-of-service attacks.

That’s why it was somewhat refreshing to see what a hacker did to Twitter yesterday, breaking into 33 celebrity accounts to leave messages on their behalf.

Here’s what CNN’s Rick Sanchez got:

Fox News got “Breaking: Bill O Riley is gay”.

There may have been some profit motive, as President Elect Barack Obama’s account was hacked to have a link to a site that offered a $500 gas card for taking a survey. The Facebook page on Twitter had a link to a porn site. Both sites had affiliate links associated with them, meaning that someone would be getting a referral fee.

The break-ins were tracked down to someone called Gmz from a site called Digital Gangster. It is not yet known if Twitter will pursue the matter legally. If money was made from affiliate accounts, it should be easy to track the person down. A post on the Digital Gangster said:

“That guy [who hacked the sites] must have been a very generous individual. To hand out accounts rather than use that for profit. Could it be enough for respect or just enough for that user to be identified as an “idiot”?”

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Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT)

Microsoft recently reported that their Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), which was included in Windows Updates on December 9, 2008, has now removed over 400,000 copies of the nefarious “Antivirus 2009”.

An Arlington, VA client was recently infected by that Antivirus 2009 malware. It has been the most pernicious malware that I have seen recently, as most users can be tricked into installing it. Many fake sites exist that you might find during a normal web search. The sites appear to be a standard Windows Control Panel page which pretends to search for and find viruses. If you click “Ok” or “Remove All” you will be infected.

It will eventually take away all administrative rights from you and ask for your credit card to update and remove the viruses. Of course, it never removes anything, but instead gives your credit card info to the bad guys to use as they wish. Your computer is also a zombie ready to do whatever they ask of it.

The problem is that the dialog boxes and alerts look just like legitimate ones that might appear from Microsoft. See the fake Antivirus 2009 alert above.

I mentioned another variant of this malware called Antivirus XP 2008 in an earlier post.

While there are other tools you could use, Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) is a real solution that will remove and protect the computer from this Malware. It is available as a critical update from Microsoft.

It is not always apparent how to run Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT). If you have it installed, you can just go to Start – Run and they type mrt

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Problems Opening an Apple Store In D.C.

According to the Georgetown Current, Apple has been trying to open a new store in Georgetown since 2007 but has been having problems getting its designs through local review.

Apple Inc. claims design geeks as well as computer snobs among its fans, and the company’s storefronts are hallowed ground for those who worship form as much as function.

But Apple’s design credentials seem to hold little sway in Georgetown. Although the company has owned a Georgetown location at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. for more than a year and has approval to demolish the existing structure there, D.C. has yet to get its first Apple store. Moreover, recent delays suggest the wait is far from over.

At its Dec. 2 meeting, the Georgetown advisory neighborhood commission rejected the third consecutive proposal from the California-based store, and the Old Georgetown Board did the same at its meeting two days later.

Planners had hoped the third time would be the charm: “Steve saw this design and really loves it,” said project manager Carrie Johnson, referring to Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Commissioners disagreed with Jobs and claimed the design – a glass first story with a solid-stone upper facade punctuated by a large window shaped like Apple’s logo – would not fit into Georgetown.

Old Georgetown Board members agreed, said board spokesperson Tom Luebke. “The board felt that the design turned the building into a billboard,” he said.

Other board criticisms have been constants since September 2007, when Apple presented its first design, a glass lower story and an upper story that featured punched windows.

“That first time, like every time after, it was a question of scale,” said Luebke. The board wanted something to break up the unrelieved expanse of glass, but Apple returned in the summer of 2008 with an all-glass facade.

“The board wanted something less autonomous, something that supports the historic district,” said Luebke. And again, there was the question of scale.

Although the complaint that the most recent iteration was “too modern” did surface at the neighborhood commission meeting, the moreauthoritative Old Georgetown Board told Apple that a “modern treatment is possible,” according to Luebke.

“They’re not against modern design,” he said of the board.

Another worry has been the one-story approach to the building, formerly the site of a French Connection UK store.

“It didn’t seem that one-story occupancy is an enlightened idea for smart growth in Georgetown,” said Luebke.

Apple Inc. did not return calls for comment.

The brand has had success placing stores in historic and culturally important spots other than Georgetown. A brief survey of existing storefronts, however, shows that Apple’s proposals for the D.C. site more closely echo newer, suburban Apple stores than, for example, the company’s stores on Regent Street in London or in SoHo in New York City.

Those latter stores’ facades, however, were historically protected and therefore retained, while the Wisconsin Avenue site will be demolished.

But Apple will somehow have to adjust its design to its surroundings if it wants to proceed, said Luebke. “So far,” he said, “there has been very little context of the historic district.”

While we wait for the first Washington D.C. store to open, there are many other Apple stores in the D.C. metro area in nearby Virginia (two stores in Arlington, one in Fairfax, and one in McLean, VA) and Maryland (two stores in Bethesda and one in Columbia, MD).

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Macworld 2009 Preview

Macworld, the expo for new Apple and 3rd party products, will be January 5-9th. As usual, everyone is speculating about what new products might be coming.

Computers

The new 13.3″ MacBooks and 15″ MacBook Pros arrived September 2008, leaving the 17″ MacBook Pro still to be upgraded.

The iMac is expected to get a big upgrade with the new Intel chips announced today. The Mac Mini should be updated as well.

There have not been many rumors about a new Mac desktop, but it is possible that the Mac Mini could be redesigned to better fit some standard desktop components and reduce costs. This could be a return of the Mac Cube.

Also not expected, an Apple netbook (small and relatively cheap) is a possible new product that has been speculated about. But with a MacBook Air already being so thin, the role of a small Apple laptop is taken. Apple does not typically try to compete on price in the low end of the market. Perhaps a small touch screen laptop (an iPod Touch-like device) could be on offer.

Operating System

The computer updates should be adding new dedicated GPUs (graphics cards) so that Apple’s entire line can take better advantage of the upcoming Snow Leopard OS X 10.6 which will allow applications to use GPUs for non-graphics tasks. Snow Leopard’s new capabilities, mainly under-the-hood improvements for stability and speed, are expected to be a big part of Macworld.

iPods

The iPod Nano, Touch, and Classic were updated in September 2008, so no updates are due. The Shuffle has received several color lineup changes, but has not really changed since September 2006. With many new small and cheap competitors, Apple could update the Shuffle or just continue to slowly lower its price.

iPhone

There are rumors from case manufacturers that a new iPhone Nano with a smaller body will be coming out. This is a heavily debated topic, as many Apple fans believe this doesn’t make sense. But Wall Street analysts expect an iPhone Nano to be arriving soon.

The iPhone 3G has been at 8 and 16GB models since its July 2008 introduction.  A jump to 32GB would be logical in early 2009, especially since the iPod Touch can have 32GB. The sale of 8GB refubished models currently at $99 also supports the move to higher capacity models.

No Steve Jobs

A big concern among Apple fans is that MacWorld will not have a keynote by Steve Jobs. Instead VP of Marketing Phil Schiller will be keynoting on Tuesday January 6th at 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST. The unfounded speculation is that this is because Steve Jobs is having health problems, perhaps related to his pancreatic cancerous tumor which he had removed in 2004. This story was revived again today with a new “reliable source” saying that Steve’s health is a bigger problem than we realize.

Even if this is the case, we should remember that Steve’s personality and views are now a part of Apple. He made his return to Apple in 1996, when Apple purchased his company NeXT to use in their new OS X operating system. Steve Jobs setup an executive team that includes award winning designer Jonathan Ive, who created the iMac, aluminum PowerBook G4, MacBook Pro, iPod and iPhone. The executives share Steve’s vision and would be able to carry it out even if he had to step down as CEO.

Apple says that this will be their last Macworld. They appear to be trying to tamp down the fanfare and anticipation of new products, replacing it by regular new product introductions that better fit their schedule.